Mar 31st 2008, 00:00

Passover is probably the most celebrated of all the Jewish holidays (according to some surveys, even more so than Chanukah). It is a holiday that involves the senses, with the varied tastes ranging from sweet wine to bitter herbs and from juicy charoset to dry matzah. It is a home-based holiday, with families celebrating with a wide range of traditions. Some have a festive dinner, some have a simple “Maxwell House” seder (remember those haggadahs from your youth?), some get creative, and some have seders that go well into the night with lots of discussion, songs, and readings.

I have done a variety of seders over the years with my family, subjecting them to whatever my whim is that particular year. Most years we use the hagadah published by the CCAR (used at our TBT community seder). But we have done a seder using the Santa Cruz hagadah (very creative and new-age); we have sat on the floor and had experiential plagues, 4 sons, and other elements of the seder; we have used a hagadah for Holocaust survivors; and last year I did with our children in the Religious School a chocolate seder – definitely a favorite.

I have a collection of hagadahs, each one different in artwork and format. One of my favorites is a hagadah by Noam Zion (more like a source book) called “A Different Night.” There are options for celebrating a variety of traditions, and learning about the reasons for each step of the seder.

Since Passover is the season for questions, I ask myself – Why is Passover such a well-observed holiday? Surely it couldn’t be just to test the sinker/floater matzah balls, or to see how many different ways matzah can be made into something edible!

Passover is a universal story of taking us from slavery to freedom. From having to trust the journey we are about to start without knowing if and when we will arrive at our destination. The Israelites left their homes with very little preparation. If we had to leave in a hurry, what material belongings would we take that we value? As we know, they took the bread that didn’t have a chance to rise. They took as much as they could load on their animals – surely not enough to last for the length of their journey. None of those who left Egypt survived the 40-year trek through the desert. It was a new generation that entered the Promised Land. The story of slavery was not passed down in the Promised Land by those who had lived it, but by their children.

I am reminded of my grandparents and others like them, who were forced by the Nazis to leave their homes with little notice to begin a journey filled with fear and dread. Only a few survived, but it was enough to tell their story to those of us who would listen. I grew up hearing the stories, understanding that the freedom of living in America was the most precious gift my parents had been given (except for my sister and me, of course!). I didn’t learn German or Yiddish at home because my parents wanted to honor the land in which they lived.

At the end of each seder, we recite a powerful phrase: “L’shana haba’a b’yerushalayim – next year in Jerusalem.” With optimism we leave whatever slavery (physical or symbolic) we have endured in our lives, and we join our fellow Jews in a place where all Jews can feel at home – in Israel, our Jewish Homeland. This line will have special meaning for me this year as we plan our congregational trip to Israel this coming November. Traveling through the country to see sites that are thousands of years old, staying in places where each room has a mezuzah on the doorpost, seeing young adults in military uniforms, and speaking Hebrew with anyone who has the patience to listen to my elementary vocabulary and grammar – there is a feeling of being at home even though I am thousands of miles away from my family and actual home.

I want to wish you and your loved ones a happy and healthy Passover. I want to invite you to join me in traveling to Israel this November (see the flyer elsewhere in this issue of The Scroll). Making the decision to go will give new meaning for you when you say those words at the end of your seder: “L’shana haba’a b’yerushalayim – next year in Jerusalem.”